title: Vaccination with dendritic cell-tumor fusion cells in multiple myeloma patients: a promising strategy?
abstract: Evaluation of: Rosenblatt J, Avivi I, Vasir B et al. Vaccination with dendritic cell/tumor fusions following autologous stem cell transplant induces immunologic and clinical responses in multiple myeloma patients. Clin. Cancer Res. 19(13), 3640-3648 (2013). Recently, dendritic cell (DC)-tumor fusion vaccines have been explored as a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer. Fusion vaccines offer several advantages that distinguish them from other DC-based vaccines. In this Phase II clinical trial, Rosenblatt et al. demonstrate that repeated immunization with a DC-tumor fusion vaccine after autologous stem cell transplantation induces myeloma-specific immunity and improves clinical response. They showed that generation of an autologous fusion vaccine with dendritic and myeloma cells was feasible and that vaccination was well tolerated without grade 3-4 toxicities. The results of this study suggest that the time after autologous stem cell transplantation represents a unique setting for cancer vaccination and that combining autologous stem cell transplantation with post-transplant vaccination increases the immunogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Cologne Interventional Immunology, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Straße 62, D-50937, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Garcia-Marquez
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shimabukuro-Vornhagen
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Theurich
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: von Bergwelt-Baildon
mesh_terms: D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D019496:Cancer Vaccines